Department for Transport

Rapid Transit Systems: Cambridgeshire

Lord Berkeley: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much they committed to funding the Cambridgeshire Guided Busway when the contract was originally awarded; and whether they have since been asked to fund any additional costs.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: The Department for Transport’s funding contribution to the Cambridgeshire Guided Bus was capped at a maximum of £92.5m when the scheme was approved in 2006. This amount has been paid in full to the scheme promoter, Cambridgeshire County Council. The Government has not been asked to provide any additional funding above this amount.

Aviation: Safety

Lord Brabazon of Tara: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what action they are taking in conjunction with the Civil Aviation Authority to reduce the risk to life caused by passengers on United Kingdom registered aircraft who retrieve, or attempt to retrieve, and remove cabin baggage from the aircraft during an emergency evacuation, against the explicit instructions and lawful orders of the aircraft's crew and commander and in contravention of the Air Navigation Order.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon: Her Majesty’s Government are aware of concerns regarding passengers attempting to retrieve or remove cabin baggage from the aircraft during an emergency evacuation. The Department for Transport are working closely with the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) and our international partners at the European Aviation Safety Agency to review the current requirement for passenger briefings.In advance of any amendments to European Aviation Regulations, the CAA will be publishing a Safety Notice on the management of passengers and cabin baggage in the event of an aircraft evacuation.

Home Office

Gangmasters: Licensing

The Lord Bishop of Derby: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to require gangmasters to have a Disclosure and Barring Service check as part of their licence application process.

Lord Bates: The Government has no current plans to introduce a requirement for a Disclosure and Barring Service check in the Gangmasters Licensing Authority licence application. A public consultation on the role of the GLA in labour market enforcement was published on 13 October and invites views on operation of the licensing regime.

Gangmasters: Licensing

The Lord Bishop of Derby: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they plan to introduce a requirement for the Gangmasters Licensing Authority to ensure that gangmasters have a Disclosure and Barring Service check as part of the licence application process.

Lord Bates: The Government has no current plans to introduce a requirement for a Disclosure and Barring Service check in the Gangmasters Licensing Authority licence application. A public consultation on the role of the GLA in labour market enforcement was published on 13 October and invites views on operation of the licensing regime.

Foreign and Commonwealth Office

Turkey: Human Rights

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of reports of killing of civilians, attacks on party offices, and injuries to children in Turkey, what representations they have made to the government of Turkey regarding compliance with its human rights obligations.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: Ministers and officials regularly raise human rights issues in their contacts with Turkish Ministers and officials at all levels. We will continue closely to monitor events in the run up to and after November’s elections.

European Council

Lord Hylton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what proposals they will bring to the European Council meeting in Valletta in November.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: We are working with EU and African partners to ensure that the Valletta Summit produces a genuine partnership between the EU and African countries and an action plan of practical areas for joint working that will tackle the root causes of migration, support transit countries, and that deals with the criminal elements involved in people trafficking and smuggling.

Gaza: Israel

Baroness Tonge: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Israel to ensure that Gaza fishermen have access to at least nine nautical miles offshore in winter to fish in depths that allow them to catch sufficient fish for their income.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: The fishing limit currently enforced by Israel remains at six nautical miles. We continue to press the Israeli authorities to increase the nautical delimitation to twelve miles.

British Overseas Territories: Exclusive Economic Zone

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what policies they have in place (1) for the protection of the Exclusive Economic Zones around the United Kingdom's worldwide dependencies, and (2) to ensure maximum economic advantage for the United Kingdom and its dependencies from those waters and seabed.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: The British Government is committed to protecting the marine environment of the Overseas Territories. As part of this work we plan to work with the Overseas Territories to create “blue belts” to help manage their dynamic and important ecosystems in a way which effectively balances environmental protection and economic potential. This will help the UK to meet its international obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity, which aims to protect ten per cent of marine waters globally. In support of this goal the UK has, in addition, declared a full no take Marine Protected Area around the British Indian Ocean Territory and a sustainable use Marine Protected Area in South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.The Overseas Territories are responsible for managing their terrestrial and marine environments, including their economic potential. The UK is responsible in international law for compliance with international obligations.

Syria: Armed Conflict

Lord West of Spithead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the efficacy of Russian co-ordination of its armed action against the rebels and Daesh in Syria.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: Russian actions have complicated the situation in Syria. Over 85 per cent of Russian strikes have been carried out in areas where the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) is not present. Several hundred civilians, including members of the moderate opposition, are reported to have been killed in Russian strikes. This makes clear that Russia’s priority is not defeating ISIL, but supporting Assad.

Rohingya

Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made about the levels of sectarian attacks on Rohingya Muslims.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns: British Government Ministers take every appropriate opportunity to raise the plight of the Rohingya community with their Burmese counterparts. Most recently, the Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), did so with the Burmese Foreign Minister in New York on 29 September. During his visit to Burma in July, Mr Swire travelled to Rakhine State to see the situation there at first hand, and raised the situation of the Rohingya at senior level both in Rakhine and with Burmese central government ministers.Whilst there have not been any new incidents of major inter-communal violence towards the Rohingya Muslims, the situation remains tense and many root causes are unresolved. We are keeping the situation in Rakhine State under close review as the 8 November general elections approach. Within the last month, teams from our Embassy in Rangoon have visited both north and south Rakhine to assess the situation.

Department for Business, Innovation and Skills

Small Businesses: Disclosure of Information

Lord Harrison: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of how the requirement for public-interest enterprises to disclose non-financial interests and diversity measures under European Union Directive 2014/95 affects United Kingdom small and medium-sized enterprises wishing to be listed on stock exchanges across the European Union.

Baroness Neville-Rolfe: The Government expects to publish a consultation document shortly on plans for transposition of this Directive, most of whose provisions are already reflected in UK reporting requirements. A full impact assessment, including an assessment of the impact on SMEs, will be made available alongside the consultation document.

Ministry of Justice

Wormwood Scrubs Prison

Lord Trefgarne: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the latest figure for (1) the number of prisoners being held at HMP Wormwood Scrubs, and (2) the number of prison officers normally available for duty at that prison.

Lord Faulks: There were 1,261 prisoners held at HMP Wormwood Scrubs on Friday 25 September 2015.There were 230 full-time equivalent Band 3-5 Prison Officers employed HMP Wormwood Scrubs as at 30 June 2015. The staff number is rounded to the nearest 10 in line with how published figures are presented.Individual prison population and capacity information for every prison in England and Wales (such as HMP Wormwood Scrubs) as well as the total population and useable capacity of the prison estate is published monthly on gov.uk in the prison population statistics.Information on staffing can also be found on gov.uk in our NOMS workforce statistics.

The Lord Chairman of Committees

House of Lords: Catering

Lord Avebury: To ask the Chairman of Committees what plans he has to end the subsidy for catering services in the House of Lords.

Lord Laming: Catering and Retail Services seek to provide an appropriate level of service to support an active and busy parliamentary chamber, and to provide excellent value to the taxpayer. The catering subsidy has been reduced by 32% since 2007 and we are working hard to reduce it further through an ambitious Change Programme.The unpredictable nature of parliamentary business – in terms of sitting days, recesses, the length of each sitting, and the level of attendance at the House for each sitting – means that staffing costs and wastage are higher than would be the case in purely commercial catering outlets. This makes an operating loss extremely difficult to avoid.Furthermore, catering facilities are used by a wide range of people, not just Members. Venues such as the River Restaurant and Millbank House cafeteria are mainly intended to provide facilities for staff and other users such as the Metropolitan Police, contractors and others working on the Parliamentary Estate. It is good practice for large employers to provide cafeteria facilities for staff, particularly for organisations that operate outside normal office hours as is the case in the House of Lords. We pay all catering staff at least the London Living Wage and provide them with workplace pensions. We are proud to do so but it means our costs are higher than some commercial restaurants.Given these factors, some element of tax-payer funding is appropriate, but the Administration is vigilant to ensure that public money is stewarded responsibly. Catering and Retail Services are also exploring novel ways to generate income in quieter times, such as opening the Peers’ Dining Room to the public in longer recesses. This helps to reduce the overall cost of the refreshment service to the tax payer, and so the subsidy.

Department for Work and Pensions

Welfare State

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they expect net savings to the public purse in 2016–17 from the removal of the family element in tax credits and the first child premium in Universal Credit, taking into account any other benefits that would become payable by local authorities as a result of those changes.

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they expect net savings to the public purse in 2017–18 from limiting support through tax credits and Universal Credit to two children for new births, taking into account any other benefits that would become payable by local authorities as a result of that change.

Lord Freud: The estimated net savings from the removal of the family element in tax credits and Universal Credit, and the family premium in Housing Benefit, for new claims in 2016-17 is £55 million, as detailed in the Government’s summer budget 2015: policy costings publication.The estimated net savings from limiting the child element to 2 children for new births in tax credits and new claims in UC in 2017-18 is £315 million.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Black Grass

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the problems resulting from the spread of herbicide-resistant black grass; and what action they are taking to address them.

Lord Gardiner of Kimble: Herbicide-resistant black-grass has been confirmed in over 30 counties in England, with the eastern and south-eastern counties being particularly badly affected. Monitoring the prevalence of black-grass was introduced into the Defra Winter Wheat Pest and Disease Surveys in 2012 following reports of significant problems in controlling black-grass weeds in wheat crops. Research shows that a number of cultural methods can reduce black-grass incidence including use of ploughing, rotation and delayed drilling. The Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board’s (AHDB) Cereals and Oilseeds Division has brought together a range of advice on its website to help farmers tackle the problem of black-grass.

Department for Communities and Local Government

Refuges

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to ensure that women and children fleeing domestic abuse can access safe refuges after the emergency funding for refuge services in England ends.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Government is committed to a secure future for refuge provision, as set out in our Manifesto, and is determined to ensure that no victim is turned away from the support she needs. Future funding arrangements are a matter for the Spending Review.

Council Tax Reduction Schemes

Baroness King of Bow: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the response in August 2014 by the former Head of the Civil Service to the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee’s report on Council Tax Support, what steps are being taken to ensure that comprehensive information is available on the impact of local council tax support schemes on vulnerable groups.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: These are local schemes and it is for local authorities to consider the effect on specific groups of council taxpayers.The terms of reference for the independent review of local council tax support schemes will be published in due course. It will be for the Chair of the Review to consider what information they wish to take account of as part of the Review’s work.The Review will be completed by March 2016.

Green Belt

Lord Patten: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of green belt policy since 2010 in England.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: We have ensured strong protection for Green Belt in national planning policy, making clear that most new building is inappropriate there; and that a Green Belt boundary may be altered only in exceptional circumstances, using the Local Plan process. We abolished regional housing targets that threatened the Green Belt. Green Belt area remains constant at 13 per cent of England, successfully restraining unwanted urban sprawl in many areas. The Green Belt is 34,000 hectares larger than in 1997 if we disregard land reclassified as national park.

Urban Areas: Awards

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what involvement they have with the Great British High Street awards.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Department for Communities and Local Government created the Future High Streets Forum in 2014, which subsequently established the Great British High Street of The Year competition to champion the innovative work of local people up and down the country who are working together to support their high streets.The Department has processed a record 230 applications for this year’s awards, each of which has been marked against the criteria of ‘Innovation’, ‘Collaboration’ and ‘Transitions & Outcomes’. My hon. Friend, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (Marcus Jones) has had no involvement in the judging of the competition, retail experts from a range of organisations including Boots, Post Office, Costa, Marks & Spencer, Argos, Google, British Beer & Pubs Association, British Council of Shopping Centres and Dartford Borough Council have been brought together by the Department to form an official judges panel.The overall winners from the shortlisted finalists will be decided based on merits seen on a judge’s visit, and also the outcome of a public vote. The weighting of the two judging mechanisms will be 50/50.In 2014, the Department funded the Association of Town City Management £77,000 to develop and launch the Great British High Street website (http://thegreatbritishhighstreet.co.uk/), branding and communication materials, including the launch of the Great British High Street Competition. We are continuing to support the Association in 2015 with a small amount of resource to maintain and develop the website and competition. The Department has also secured support and sponsorship from Boots, Post Office, Costa, Marks & Spencer, Argos, Tesco and Google, resulting in an £80,000 prize pot for this year’s competition.

Derelict Land

Lord Greaves: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what decisions they have made about the criteria for their fund to assist brownfield housing development; and how it will operate.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The Government intends to create a £1 billion Fund to focus on unlocking homes on brownfield land for additional housing. The operation and focus of the Fund are currently being developed and details will be available when the Fund is launched.

Disabled Facilities Grants

Baroness Greengross: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what will be the total amount available under the Disability Facilities Grant fund in 2016–17.

Baroness Greengross: To ask Her Majesty’s Government when there will be further announcements regarding the future development of the Disability Facilities Grant.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Helping disabled people to live independently in their own homes for longer through adaptations remains a key priority for this Government. The Government will have invested just over a billion pounds into the Disabled Facilities Grant between 2011-12 and 2015-16. This has delivered around 200,000 adaptations to the homes of disabled people. Future funding for the Disabled Facilities Grant is a matter for the Spending Review.

Disabled Facilities Grants

Baroness Greengross: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what checks and balances are in place to ensure that the 2015–16 Disabled Facilities Grant allocation is spent in the prescribed areas.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Helping disabled people to live independently in their own homes for longer through adaptations remains a key priority for this Government. The Government will have invested just over a billion pounds into the Disabled Facilities Grant between 2011-12 and 2015-16. This has delivered around 200,000 adaptations to the homes of disabled people. The Disabled Facilities Grant is a non-ringfenced capital grant paid via the Better Care Fund to local housing authorities. Better Care Fund commissioners are required to confirm they have passed the Disabled Facilities Grant funding on to local housing authorities in their quarterly returns to NHS England. This enables local housing authorities to continue to meet their statutory duty to provide adaptations to the homes of those disabled people who qualify.

Planning Permission

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidelines they give to local authorities when discussing planning proposals that could have a measurable impact on the environment.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: The National Planning Policy Framework, which is a material consideration in decisions on planning applications, recognises the environment as one of the three dimensions to the delivery of sustainable development. The framework sets out strong planning policy for the protection and enhancement of the natural environment. In addition web-based planning guidance is available and includes a section dedicated to the natural environment.

Schools: Planning Permission

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what guidance they give to local authorities which, in determining the site for a new school, approve a location that would require pupils to walk two to five miles in order to attend.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: In England, specific guidance is not provided on the location of schools. The Government places great importance on ensuring that a sufficient choice of school places is available to meet the needs of existing and new communities. It expects local authorities to work collaboratively with school promoters to find suitable locations, while considering statutory duties around home to school transport and sustainability as well as other relevant factors. It is not always possible for children to be able to attend a school within walking distances, particularly in more rural areas, in which case the local authority would be under a duty to make travel arrangements where they considered it necessary to secure a child’s attendance at school.

Department for Energy and Climate Change

Nuclear Power: Security

Lord Judd: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they have taken to ensure that all personnel working in the nuclear generation sector are briefed and adequately prepared to deal with cyber attacks.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Government, through the National Cyber Security Programme, has provided training to key personnel within the civil nuclear industry to continuously improve the cyber security of the nuclear sector. We are doing this by facilitating training for the regulator and civil nuclear personnel, and carrying out risk reviews of sites within the civil nuclear sector to provide recommendations on how their cyber security can be enhanced. Additionally, operators of nuclear power plants in the UK must operate in accordance with the UK’s very stringent safety and security regulations and legal framework. These are enforced by the independent Office for Nuclear Regulation.The UK’s Nuclear Industries Security Regulations 2003 require all site licence companies to detail their arrangements for physical, personnel, and cyber security, which includes the protection of equipment and technology, in a security plan that is approved by ONR. These plans are routinely tested and exercised. Furthermore, as a requirement for security plan approval, ONR also seek assurance that all personnel are adequately trained and competent to undertake their role and that dutyholders encourage a strong security culture through regular briefings on a wide range of threats.’

Coal Fired Power Stations

Lord Donoughue: To ask Her Majesty’s Government how much capacity of coal-fired energy plants in megawatts is scheduled to be closed in the United Kingdom between 2015 and 2020; and what assessment they have made of the capacity to be opened in Asia between 2015 and 2020.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Decisions to close power stations are taken by their owners based on market conditions. The owners of coal plants with a combined capacity of 5.8GW have announced their intention to stop generating by March 2016. We are not currently aware of any other coal fired power stations planning to close between 2015 and 2020.The International Energy Agency (IEA) produces detailed assessments of global and regional energy trends. The IEA’s latest World Energy Outlook projects that of the 1404 GW cumulative increase in generating capacity in Asia between 2014 and 2025, 471 GW will be coal-fired. Renewables are projected to grow by 666 GW. This is against a background of rapidly rising demand for electricity in the region, with consumption expected to grow by more than 40% between 2012 and 2020.

Solar Power

Lord Tebbit: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what studies they have made of the effects of large solar energy plants upon plant and animal wild life.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: In 2014 the National Solar Centre of the Building Research Establishment published Biodiversity Guidance to Solar Developments in order to support developers in managing the effect of generating stations on plants and animal wildlife. This can be found at:http://www.bre.co.uk/filelibrary/nsc/Documents%20Library/NSC%20Publications/National-Solar-Centre---Biodiversity-Guidance-for-Solar-Developments--2014-.pdf



Biodiversity Guidance to Solar Developments 
(PDF Document, 2.05 MB)

Solar Power: Subsidies

Baroness Jones of Moulsecoomb: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they carried out a full economic impact assessment of their cuts to subsidies for solar power; and if so, what conclusions they drew about (1) the number of jobs that would be lost, and (2) the number of companies that would fail, as a result of those cuts.

Lord Bourne of Aberystwyth: Our consultation on the feed-in tariff review reflects the need to balance sector support with keeping bills down for consumers. We published an impact assessment on our proposals, which is available here:https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/consultation-on-a-review-of-the-feed-in-tariff-scheme.We have strongly encouraged evidence from the sector during this review consultation (closure date, 23 October) to assist our analysis of the potential impact on jobs.



Impact Assessment, FITs consultation: August 2015
(PDF Document, 1.66 MB)

Department of Health

Junior Doctors: Conditions of Employment

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consultation was carried out over the reclassification of "plain time" in the new contract for junior doctors; and what analysis was carried out on the effects on patient safety of that new contract.

Lord Prior of Brampton: Proposals for a new contract are on the basis of a report by the independent Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) which was asked to make recommendations when the British Medical Association (BMA) walked away from over two years of negotiations in October 2014. The DDRB took evidence from a range of parties including the BMA.The DDRB noted that research into other sectors showed that it was not uncommon for plain time to finish between 8pm and 10pm and that Saturdays were becoming increasingly normalised. Its report recommended that the scenarios in NHS Employers’ evidence – for plain time to end at 10pm rather than 7pm on weekdays and for Saturdays to be treated the same as weekdays - shouldbe the basis for further discussions. The Government has asked the BMA to return to negotiations on the basis of that recommendation, with the Secretary of State giving the assurance that nights and Sundays will continue to attract unsocial hours payments and making clear that he would be pleased to discuss in negotiations how far plain time working extends on Saturdays.The Government’s intention has always been for a contract that promotes patient safety. Contrary to misinformation from the BMA, working hours will not increase. The Secretary of State has given an absolute guarantee that the contract will not impose longer hours. Rather, it will introduce stronger limits on working hours with: 48 weekly hours on average (56 for those who opt-out of Working Time Regulations); a maximum of 72 hours in any week (lower than the current 91); no shift rostered to exceed 13 hours; no more than five long shifts consecutively; no more than four night shifts consecutively; and no more than seven consecutive on-call periods. It will also introduce work schedules tailored to individual educational needs and a strong system requiring the employer to review when hours or training opportunities vary from the work schedule.

Junior Doctors: Conditions of Employment

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether they set aside the agreement in principle with the British Medical Association on junior doctor working and instead acted to impose a new contract, and if so, why.

Lord Hunt of Kings Heath: To ask Her Majesty’s Government on what basis officials in the Department of Health have said that the claims made by Dr Dan Poulter, formerly the minister in charge of negotiations, that they had set aside an agreement in principle with the British Medical Association on junior doctor working and instead acted to impose a new contract, were incorrect.

Lord Prior of Brampton: No agreement ever existed - in principle or otherwise – beyond the Heads of Terms that were the basis for negotiations. No agreement has been set aside by the Government or the Department.NHS Employers and the British Medical Association (BMA) agreed Heads of Terms for negotiations in July 2013 and commenced negotiations in October 2013, the intention being to conclude negotiations by the end of October 2014. The BMA walked away from those negotiations on 16 October 2014.As part of negotiations, proposals for a new contract had been made by the management side (employers from each of the four United Kingdom countries). The BMA said it could not agree to these. The Government therefore asked the independent Review Body on Doctors’ and Dentists’ Remuneration (DDRB) to make recommendations.The DDRB took evidence from the BMA, NHS Employers, the Department of Health and other parties. NHS Employers’ evidence, on behalf of the four UK countries, set out the proposals made by employers in negotiations, illustrating how these related to the jointly agreed Heads of Terms. The BMA’s evidence set out alternative proposals, which had not been made during negotiations.The DDRB’s report broadly endorsed the proposals made by NHS Employers and made recommendations, identifying some areas where further discussion was needed. The Government invited both parties to return to the table with the DDRB recommendations forming the basis for further negotiations.The Government, in England, has made clear its desire for the BMA to be involved in work to introduce a new contract. The Government has asked NHS Employers to work on the detailed design of a new contract for introduction in August 2016 and has continued to encourage the BMA to return to negotiations and take part in that work.

Nurses: Migrant Workers

Baroness Masham of Ilton: To ask Her Majesty’s Government, in the light of the Migration Advisory Committee's recommendation that nurses should not be added to the shortage occupation list, what they expect will be the impact of changes to the immigration rules on the running of hospitals, care homes, and care in the community.

Lord Prior of Brampton: On 15 October 2015, the Home Secretary announced that the Tier 2 restrictions will be temporarily changed for nurses so that they can be recruited from outside the European Economic Area (EEA).Nurses will be added to the Government’s Shortage Occupation List (SoL) on an interim basis. The temporary rule change, which will apply to applications considered from December, will mean that nurses from outside the EEA who apply to work in the United Kingdom will have their applications for nursing posts prioritised.The change is designed to ease pressure on health and care services ahead of the busy winter period and at a time when the Government is introducing tough new controls on agency spending. It will help improve continuity of care for patients and maintain safe staffing levels.The Home Secretary has also asked the Migration Advisory Committee to carry out a review of the evidence about whether nurses should remain on the SoL and to report back to the Home Office by 15 February 2016.

Hospital Beds

Lord Smith of Leigh: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what they estimate is the cost to the NHS of bed-blocking by patients who have received all their medical treatment; and what steps they are taking to reduce this.

Lord Prior of Brampton: The Department has made no formal estimate of the costs of delayed discharge to the National Health Service. It is recognised that such delayed discharges do use resource which could be deployed elsewhere, and all parts of the NHS and those with responsibility outside it, are continually looking for ways in which to reduce the number of delays.

Nurses: Pay

Lord Roberts of Llandudno: To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is the average wage for a nurse in the NHS after working for (1) one, (2) five, and (3) 10 years.

Lord Prior of Brampton: This information is not held centrally.